Stratification of pancreatic and ovarian cancer patients for susceptibility to therapy with PTK2 inhibitors

The present invention relates to a method for determining whether a cancer patient is susceptible to treatment with a protein tyrosine kinase 2 (PTK2) inhibitor, comprising detecting the expression of the E-cadherin protein in a cancer sample of said cancer patient, wherein an E-cadherin protein immunoreactivity score (IRS) of 0-2 indicates that the cancer patient is susceptible to treatment with a PTK2 inhibitor. Said detection of the expression of the E-cadherin protein in a cancer sample of a cancer patient is preferably conducted by way of an immunohistochemistry (IHC) method. Said IHC method preferably employs a primary antibody which is specific for E-cadherin and a secondary antibody which specifically reacts with the primary antibody. The present invention also relates to a method of treating a cancer patient whose cancer is characterized by an E-cadherin protein immunoreactivity score (IRS) of 0-2, comprising administering to the patient a therapeutically effective amount of a PTK2 inhibitor. In a further aspect, the present invention relates to a PTK2 inhibitor for use in the treatment of a cancer patient whose cancer is characterized by an E-cadherin protein immunoreactivity score (IRS) of 0-2. The present invention also provides a method of screening for a therapeutically effective PTK2 inhibitor comprising the steps of (a) providing cancer cells or a cancer cell line which are characterized by an E-cadherin protein immunoreactivity score of 2, 1, or 0 (1 being preferred and 0 being even more preferred); (b) contacting the cancer cell or the cancer cell line of (a) with a PTK2 inhibitor; and (c) evaluating whether the PTK2 inhibitor negatively affects the cancer cell/cancer cell lines. In a further aspect, the present invention relates to a method for stratifying cancer patients that are susceptible to treatment with a PTK2 inhibitor, comprising determining the E-cadherin IRS score in a cancer sample of said patient, wherein an E-cadherin protein immunoreactivity score (IRS) of 0-2 (i.e. 2, 1, or 0) indicates that the cancer patient is susceptible to treatment with a PTK2 inhibitor. The present invention also relates to a pharmaceutical package comprising a PTK2 inhibitor, and (a) instructions and/or an imprint indicating that said PTK2 inhibitor is to be used for the treatment of patients which suffer from a cancer which is characterized by an E-cadherin protein immunoreactivity score of 2, 1, or 0 (1 being preferred and 0 being more preferred); and/or (b) instructions and/or an imprint indicating that said patient is to be stratified by a method of the present invention; and/or (c) means to carry out a method as defined herein.